Destinies

by Phony Pony Storyteller

Chapter 3: "Ponyville"

Snow drifted through the air. It wasn't something most ponies would find strange. It was, after all, the middle of winter. Everypony was safe inside their houses, surrounded by their families, drinking cocoa, and sitting beside the fire. At least, most ponies were.

In a small town a day's travel from Canterlot, a cloaked stallion trotted through the thick snow. He paused for a moment in front of a large tree at the edge of the little town. On any map, the town was called Ponyville, but the only reason it was on a map was now towering above the stallion.

His hood fell back to reveal a gray horn, a blonde mane with a winding streak of orange running through it, and golden eyes. He was young, and his unsteady gait showed it.

He walked slowly up to the door in the side of the great tree. A golden plaque had been installed over the door, which read "Golden Oak Library." As the pony approached the door, he raised a hoof to knock, but quickly realized his mistake as he fell forward into the snow. He slowly made his way back to a standing position. This time, he carefully raised his hoof and knocked.

He waited for what felt like an eternity before his ears perked up at the sound of a door lock being undone. The top half of the door swung towards the young stallion, whose reaction involved falling backward, his hooves failing him once again.

A dark pinkish head popped out of the door, followed by two rose colored pigtails.

"Are you alright?" the pony in the door asked, curly pigtails bobbing slightly at each word. The stallion slowly worked his way back to standing, ignoring the pony's question. When he was certain he wouldn't fall again, he finally spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking past the pony at her pigtails. "I'm alright, just confused. Who are you? I thought someone else was living here." The pony in the door laughed.

"It's ok, sweetie. I'm Miss Cheerilee. And no, I don't live here." She caught the confused look on the stallion's face and laughed. "No, i'm not a thief. I'm foalsitting for my sister, though my charge isn't really a foal any more." She undid the latch on the bottom half of the door. "Come on in. You must be cold out there."

As the stallion walked in, he thanked her, but couldn't keep his eyes off her pigtails. "Thank you for letting me in, but i'm actually confused by your hairstyle. I thought you let your hair hang down." Cheerilee looked at the stranger, trying to tell if she knew him, or how he could know her.

"Well, yes. I do normally leave my hair down. Octavia suggested I put my hair up for Derpy. She seems to like it." She paused, scanning the stallion for any feature she recognized. "Do I know you?" she asked.

The stallion was now looking around the main room in the tree. It was a library in a tree. It was a simple fact, yet it blew his mind. When he got over the fact that the library had been grown, he turned to face the pony.

"No, actually, though i've heard of you. Octavia told me about you in the brief time I got to talk to her." Cheerilee looked shocked.

"What is a Canterlot pony like yourself doing here? I can't think of a single reason anypony would come here, especially if you're from the castle itself." She chuckled, remembering something. "When she said she was performing for Celestia herself this week, I knew I couldn't trust her. Come one, tell me the truth. Who are you?"

The stallion cracked a smile. He began to explain. "She didn't lie, actually. I just happened to pop up in the middle of one of her sessions." He winced suddenly, and chuckled. "Since she's your sister, I guess you've probably heard what it sound like when she messes up." He laughed for a moment. "You should have seen her face. As for who I am-"

Cheerilee interrupted him, realising he had said something weird. "You said someone else, not somepony... Why?"

The unicorn frowned, sighed, and continued.

"Miss Cheerilee, we're both teachers, but what do you know about mirror universes?"

---

Ash stood in the snow. At least, he thought it was snow. It was certainly cold, white, and melted if you let it warm up, but he could never be certain about these things.

That was because he had never had the lessons his sister had. The princess had been given lesson nearly every day of her life, but he was just a drone. Sure, the queen had taught him a few magical tricks, like the powerful overshield used to amplify a standard force field, but he had never been taught about the real world. He had spent all his life in the caves the hive used as a home. Yes, he had gone outside once, but even then, he had been under the control of his mother's mind control spell. His only real knowledge about the outside world had come from when he eavesdropped on the princess's lessons. Only once had he ever even heard about snow, and Chrysalis had been talking about how to recognise it.

Now, he was walking through the powdery white stuff, shivering occasionally as snow sometimes found its way into the holes in his legs.

"If only I could see the Sun," he heard his sister mumble. He looked at her. She was staring up, looking for something. He looked up, but all he could see was the brown of the roof.

It was weird to see all those brown columns connected to an uneven roof, but whoever had carved this cave had somehow made the columns withstand the weight of all that stone. Maybe this strange brown rock was not heavy?

"Hey Ash?" his sister called. "Mind going up there and looking for the Sun?" He looked at her, and nodded his head, but she couldn't have missed the look of confusion on his face. "It's the big yellow ball up there, beyond the canopy."

He looked back up. So, the brown up there was called a canopy, and there was a big yellow ball called the Sun behind it? He hoped this canopy could be moved easily. He took off, moving quickly upward.

He paused at the edge of the canopy, and noticed a small gap in it. He could fit through it, just barely, and there was something behind it. It looked blue, like a drone's eyes. He squeezed into the gap, but when his head popped out the other side, he stopped.

The roof above the canopy stretched forever. He had a strange feeling, like he might fall up into that huge blueness that was the... he realized he didn't even know what it was. He got a grip on his senses.

The longer he was up here, the more time something could happen to the princess. He spun his head, but that only made him dizzy. That roof was really weird. The canopy didn't help either. It stretched forever, as far as he could see.

He kept looking, and finally spotted the sun. It really was a just huge yellow ball. He looked at it, and imagined he could see it moving slowly toward the canopy.

He went back down to the princess and stood there for a moment, realizing he liked the ground and snow a lot better than up there.

"Which direction is it?" the princess asked, focusing Ash's attention. He pointed in the rough direction he had seen it. "So that means that way is west?" she asked, but Ash could only try to memorize what she was saying.

West is a direction, he thought, and the Sun is in the west. How useful.

"Wait... was the Sun setting or rising?" Ash looked at the princess. Setting? Rising? She sighed, then said "Was it going up or down?" Ash thought, then pointed toward the ground. "That means it was setting, and the Sun sets in the east. Canterlot is in the west."

So if the Sun is going down, it's setting, and that means it's in the east? It was a lot more complicated being up here.

Ash realized that his sister was already walking away from him. He quickly flew over to her, landed, and continued walking alongside her. She glanced at him and mumbled something along the lines of "wish I could fly."

---

Just after the Sun set and the Moon began to rise, the changeling princess stepped out from the Everfree Forest.

"Finally!" she exclaimed. "I was starting to think the forest never ended." She looked around, spotting the lights from Canterlot in the distance. Ash trotted up beside her, and she pointed him toward the city. "There it is. Canterlot." She suddenly noticed the town between them and the city.

"Huh. I don't think I was ever told about that town." Just a little ways towards Canterlot was a small town attached to the forest. This side of it was dominated by a huge tree, which didn't appear to be part of the forest itself, more like a part of the town.

"I wonder if ponies live there. If so, maybe Derpy lives there? Or the other one, Octavia?" She started trotting towards the town, but Ash suddenly sprang in front of her, fangs barred.

"Don't worry Ash. If you think it's dangerous, it probably is, but one of us should go over there and check." Ash indicated that he would, but the princess shook her head. "You need a disguise. You were under mother's spell when you were outside, so you can't trust your memories of what you saw. I remember seeing the ponies."

Ash's small horn glowed, and the book they had gotten from Brimstone floated beside him. The picture floated out. Ash looked at it for a moment, and suddenly flashed into green flame. When he was done, the princess looked him over.

"Her eyes are crossed Ash. Even I don't know how to do that." He shook his head vigorously, and when he stopped, his eyes were slightly crossed. It was the best he could do.

One more look over led to the princess blushing. "She's a mare as well, Ash. You're a stallion version of her." Ash got a pained look, contemplating his options. Finally, a look of resolve crossed his face. "Don't do it," the princess warned him.

Another flash of green flame, and suddenly it was the changeling princess and a pegasus mare standing in the snow there.

Both suddenly realized that Ash didn't have a horn anymore. The princess picked up the book and picture with her magic. "Since you're so intent on keeping me safe and going yourself, i'll stay here." She looked Ash over once more. "Ok, you'd convince me you were Derpy. Just don't open your mouth. Good luck."

Ash trotted off, slightly uncomfortable in his new body. At least this answered the question of whether or not the shapeshifting was only skin deep. Turns out it was much deeper.

As Ash neared the town, he decided to try out his new wings. A single flap later, and he realised just how much more powerful these wings were. The queen had taught him only a couple things, but he had been taught pony anatomy and physiology. With hollow bones, pegasi were much lighter than changelings, and these wings definitely had the force to lift his weight. He took to the air, learning quickly how these wings were different from changeling wings. Before long he landed next to the large tree on the edge of town.

His ears perked, and he realized he was hearing voices from inside the tree. He moved around the tree and found a door with what looked like a golden sign installed above it. The Golden Oak Library. Ash scooted closer to the door and put an ear to it.

"... sorry I showed up like this and started making demands, but you understand, right? We can't let normal ponies know about these things, and if what he said is true, then the changelings are already on their way." It sounded like a mare, and he heard a faint tinkle indicating that magic was being used.

Another voice responded, also a mare.

"I understand. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about the mirror, and if they show up, i'll send a letter to you, Captain."

There was a pause in the conversation, which the second voice interrupted.

"Captain, are you alright?"

Finally, the first voice spoke, but very quietly.

"You sneaky little bug..." Suddenly, an brownish unicorn burst out of the top half of the door, her short blue hair barely keeping up with her head. She landed just behind Ash, who immediately spread his wings to fly away.

"Ash! Stop right there," the unicorn commanded.

Ash hesitated. How did she know his name, and how did she know he was even here?

"I'll answer all your questions inside. Just don't fight back and I won't have to hurt you," she said as if she could read his mind. Ash decided to run for it, but just as he launched himself, the unicorn lept at him and caught him, causing both of them to tumble into the still half open door.

Ash landed on his wings and he could feel one of them break. He didn't make a sound, however, as he stared in shock at the pegasus whose hooves he had landed at. The pain in his wing was too much, though, and he passed out.

He did hear one sentence before the world faded to black.

"Not a bad job of mimicking me, for only seeing me once."